"Run Doctor! Scurry off back to
your blue box. You're like all the rest: lizards when there's a man's work to
be done. I'm sick of your kind. Faint-hearted, do-nothing, lily-livered
deadweights. This is the end for all of you. I'm finally getting something
done! Hahaha hahahahaaaaa!!!!"
John Nathan Turner and Christopher H Bidmead wished for Doctor
Who to be taken into more "Real science" territory after what they
considered a far too jokey period of the show which had been season 17. The did
not completely remove the humour, but they did lance a huge amount of it out of
their debut season together. They also drove the stories towards being more
serious, which is a good thing. Its then somewhat just a little paradoxical
that "Warrior's Gate" does actually possess the most humour of all
the season 18 stories. But within this story the humour comes from the drama,
rather than being grafted on.
"Warrior's Gate" is probably the most
science-oriented story of the season. It can be actually a tad confusing if you're
not concentrating fully. But if you are fully alert, then you will discover
just how unique and interesting this story is.
Steve Gallagher is a very talented and gifted writer. Here he
takes the themes of a contracting section E Space and runs with it and presents
us with a very very stark and stand out story indeed. This is helped no end by
the inventive and creative direction of Paul Joyce, although one understands
that this story was not one with a smooth production at all. Paul Joyce was
apparently far more of a visual filmic director, and had no idea of the manic
schedule that was the usual Doctor Who story recording of the 80s. In fact, he
was even sacked at one point by John Nathan Turner and some segments of the
story are directed by Graeme Harper. That a superb story somehow manages to
emerge from all this hassle is a definite credit to everyone involved in its
making.
The Tharils are a particularly good and well realised race of
aliens, that are given a good amount of background, yet still have a lot of
mystery surrounding them. They are not out and out heroes, not totally black
hearted individuals either. Their greyness is what makes them interesting. They
are in no way shape or form the typical Doctor Who alien race. In fact, little
of Warrior's Gate is typical Doctor Who. Jeremy Gittins appears as Lazlo too,
long before his more memorable role as the Vicar in "Keeping Up
Appearances". David Weston however is the most notable and present of the
Tharil, and he is sublime in the role.
The casting on the story is also spot on. Kenneth Cope is a
brilliant Packard, and any shadows of his Carry On Film appearances or the
suchlike are totally absent from his performance here. He plays Packard real
and straight-faced all the way through.
Clifford Rose is the man of the hour though. His Rorvik is
delicious. He's thoroughly nasty through and through. He has no ounce of
decency in him. He is totally self-centred and acidic and he really stands out
as one of the more memorable Doctor Who baddies. Actually, his slightly bonkers
laugh towards the end of the story is very weirdly unsettling. He is definitely
in the ranks of the best.
The Gundan Robots are also another well-designed set of robots,
with their voices being particularly effective. They look mean, tall and
command attention.
Another striking aspect of the story is the extravagant
visuals. It does help to make the story stand out, but not like a sore thumb,
rather more like a proud and exuberant thumb! The visions of the Doctor in his
gorgeous burgundy ensemble moving past black and white shots of gardens and
castles is amazingly effective on screen and looks totally unique.
The only major gripe with this story is the horrifically rushed
goodbye to Romana as a character. Honestly, I can’t help feeling that Lalla
Ward deserved a far better exit. However, the Doctor crowning her as the
"Noblest Romana of them all!" is a lovely farewell line to this
popular and much-loved companion. However at least she gets a good cause to
follow, in that she leaves to help Biroc free his people from the universe of E
space, and K9 stays with her too to lend a probe. K9's exit was also
bittersweet for a lot of younger fans who adored the metal mutt.
Perhaps another tiny gripe is that Matthew Waterhouse does get
rather side-lined in this script, and doesn’t really justify his presence
within the story really. But Matthew again is not half as bad as he is
frequently portrayed as being, and he has some very amusing interactions with
K9 all along through this story. And he
is already proving himself worthy as a reliable assistant, especially when he
gets the Doctor out of trouble with Rorvik.
Another small but worthy note to mention is the guns in this
story for once don’t look flimsy and stupid and unconvincing. They look to be
made of real decent heavy metal so when Rorvik holds one to the Doctor's cheek
you believe for once this gun could cause some real harm. The designers did
well on this story to say the least.
So, the Doctor and Adric finally escape the confines of E Space
and head back into the real universe of N Space. But the end of an era is
approaching, and Warrior's Gate stands as a very original and different story
to help make Tom Baker's last year very memorable and very entertaining indeed.
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